A roster full of overpaid and under-performing players has left general manager Reggie McKenzie with a lot of tough decisions to make. McKenzie had started his tenure by purging the roster of the worst contracts, while restructuring the others.
In Year 2 of the rebuilding process, McKenzie has more tough decisions to make. Players will be released, but he’ll also have to do more restructuring.
One of the biggest decisions McKenzie has to make comes at the quarterback position.
Carson Palmer will make $13 million in base salary alone in 2013, with $2.3 million more in prorated bonus, according to spotrac.com. That puts Palmer’s cap number at about $15.3 million, which is up there with the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league.
McKenzie will try to restructure Palmer’s contract, according ESPN’s Adam Schefter. In reality, the Raiders will have to ask Palmer to take a pay cut.
In return, the Raiders will probably convert his base salary into a guarantee. The contract will obviously have to benefit both Palmer and the Raiders to come to fruition.
Palmer actually restructured his deal last offseason to give the Raiders cap relief, agreeing to convert $11.675 million of his base salary into a roster bonus that prorates like a signing bonus, according to ESPN. If Palmer is released, four years of his prorated signing bonus would hit the cap.
This acceleration of his signing bonus would result in $9.34 million in dead money against the salary cap.
It’s pretty obvious why the Raiders would want to restructure his deal, but coming to an agreement on a new deal is going to be a challenge. If the Raiders used the same tactic as last season, they would be on the hook for too much money.
Using the same tactic of lowering his base salary to $825,000 and prorati...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
